Newly Discovered Beetle Named After Tranströmer

A previously unknown beetle species has been named for poet Tomas Tranströmer. Entomologist Michael Sörensson of Lund University (Sweden) discovered the beetle and named it after Tranströmer as a tribute to the poet. It was announced in conjunction with the celebration of the poet’s 80th birthday.

The species named Mordellistena transtroemeriana (Poet’s Towers Ram) was discovered in Gotland, Sweden’s largest island and the largest island in the Baltic Sea, and is so far only known in two types. The new species is between 5 and 6 millimeters long. Its habits are still unknown, but Mikael Sörensson is planning an expedition to the island of Gotland to further investigate the new species.